


Assignment

by A_stag_a_star_a_death



Category: N/A - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_stag_a_star_a_death/pseuds/A_stag_a_star_a_death
Summary: Hey there! Not sure if this is allowed on Ao3 as it's not part of a fandom - more of a brain dump, and I haven't projected it onto a character. Perhaps I will in the near future? This is likely to deal with some troubling topics: please don't read or stop reading if you become triggered or concerned. If any of this content resonates with you, I would highly recommend checking out your country's support network - stay safe, and I love you all <3





	Assignment

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Not sure if this is allowed on Ao3 as it's not part of a fandom - more of a brain dump, and I haven't projected it onto a character. Perhaps I will in the near future? This is likely to deal with some troubling topics: please don't read or stop reading if you become triggered or concerned. If any of this content resonates with you, I would highly recommend checking out your country's support network - stay safe, and I love you all <3

I know it happened.  
Use whatever reasoning you want, as many excuses.  
I was young, I didn't know, I upset her, she would never do that.  
You can trust adults.

But after everything, can you?

I remember everything: the aggressive scent of chlorine, the idyllic water. So peaceful, tranquil, foreboding. I remember the seating around the edges of the room - a pleasant natural wood tone, with a varnish that always made you think that the seats were wet. I remember the huge glass windows, spanning wall to wall on one side, revealing colossal grounds of rolling, endless green. People walking their dogs, strolling unaware. They can't be blamed. They didn't know.

The parents sitting on those wooden benches; catching up on emails, waving at their child as they splash in the shallows. They thought we were in the hands of professionals. They can't be blamed.

And then, a girl. Little more than a child, who has only seen seven birthdays. Old enough to know that the world isn't kind, but naive enough to believe that adults can be trusted. No matter what the children do, she would think, at least the adults will never turn on me. And there lies her mistake.

It's easy, looking back. You see her in your mind's eye, innocent and trusting. You want to scream in unspoken words that belief is vastly weaker than the truth which is hunting her. You wish there was another way, any other way, to bend the hands of time to spare her.

There isn't.

You see her as she shakes her head, shivering on the diving board. You sense the panic in her eyes. But it's not too strong. Not just yet. She hasn't seen enough to validate her fears. Not yet.

The woman asks her to face the water. She obliges. You sense it before she does - she's only young after all. You feel the motion, quiver at the contact. In one kick you see her innocence shatter. The woman says it will give her a 'kick up the arse of confidence'.

But you know better, don't you?

You see this young girl, frantic with all-consuming fear, forcing her immature body to push far beyond it's limits. You see the panic as she crawls out of the pool and stands, cowed, before her instructor. You see her body violently protesting the shock and exertion as she heaves up the contents of her stomach in the changing rooms.

You know that it will not get easier.

You see her, almost ten years on, unable to enter a room where the door will be closed. You see her awake at ungodly hours, forcing herself to finish the assignments. You see her as she abuses the body she was given to extract just a little more, because that's what she's been taught. You see her fade by the end of every term, her youthful body and mind spent at the hands of those who might harm her.

You see her now, and wonder,  
What happened?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I greatly value any comments, and will reply where I can. Stay safe and well! <3


End file.
